Watching the 7's quest
by goddessofbookss
Summary: The camp are planning a surprise party for Percy's 17th birthday when Hera and Aphrodite show up and the camp gets to view some of the pieces of the 7's quest from the moment the Greeks landed in New Rome. This isn't a one shot btw :) thanks to anyone who reviews! Spoiler Alert, duh!
1. Everybody's least favourite goddess

It was currently 10:30am; Annabeth had been away with Percy for about and hour now. The camp was taking a little break from organizing Percy's party; they were all sitting around on the grass talking. Piper was discussing, with Jason, possible games they could play for the party, when a bright light appeared in the middle of everyone.

The goddesses Hera and Aphrodite appeared in front of everyone, instantly quieting the grounds of demigods.

Chiron walked forward and bowed to the two female goddesses.

"Chiron" Hera said. Piper could sense Jason tense up in anger, _oh great, everybody's least favourite goddess is here, the one who conducted the 'demigod exchange program' between the two camps, causing panic for the Romans and the Greeks._

"Hey everyone. Piper." Aphrodite turned around to face Piper and Jason.

"I see you guys are still going strong" Aphrodite smiled at Piper and Jason, making Piper blush.

"Mum…" Piper tried to sound enthusiastic, but Piper's mother had confused her way too many times in the past, then she doesn't contact anyone during the war, then she just shows up at camp with the Queen of the gods. "What are you doing here?"

Then Aphrodite's face clouded with sadness, "sadly, Hera and I are here to help everyone… understand. Understand what happened when the Greeks met the Romans, for the Athena kids, how Annabeth got the Athena Parthenos statue, what happened on the 7's quest, and, finally, what happened to Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus. I also know you, Nico Di Angelo, the first mortal survivor of Tartarus, willingly went down there to try and find the doors of death."

The whole camp turned to Nico, who suddenly found his shoes interesting. No one apart from the seven really knew Nico went down to Tartarus.

Hera started speaking "Don't you all want to know why I composed my plan of uniting the Romans and the Greeks? Why I went through all the trouble to see this plan through? The seven demigods, Nico and Coach Hedge, why their job, or should I say jobs, since they did do _A LOT_ on their quest, why it was so important and vital to the fate of the world, you guys were the key to what stood between life and death. If your quest went wrong, the results wouldn't be as they are today. I see you are preparing for the son of Poseidon's birthday party?"

"Which you won't be attending I presume" Piper bitterly said.

"No, no we will not, but- ah yes, the Romans have arrived." Hera looked to her left. Reyna, Hazel, Frank and a few other Romans walked in formation towards the Greeks. That formation broke when they saw the two Goddesses standing before them.

"Hey. Uh…" Frank spoke, but got elbowed by Hazel.

"Please join us, we were about to begin." Hera gestured to the grass lawn the rest of camp half-blood was sprawled out on.

Hera spoke just as she clicked her fingers, and all the campers were seated together rather than sitting around anywhere, we were all facing one way.

"As you know, not even the gods venture in to the depths of Tartarus, but with the help of all the gods, and even Hades, we could view some of their time their."

"We're watching our quest?" Piper and Jason shouted bewildered.

"Some of it yes dears. The important parts at least" Aphrodite smiled at them, though Piper didn't think there was anything to smile about.

A sort of hologram appeared, but it was more like they were watching on a cinema screen.


	2. True Colours

**AN: I don't own these quotations – they came directly from Rick Riordan's book "The Mark of Athena"**

 **Thank you so much for reading this, it means the world to me, and it means so much more if you guys review! Please do!**

 **This isn't one of my favourite stories though, but I just wanted to continue it!**

 **Piper**

Piper assumed the goddesses purposefully made sure Percy and Annabeth weren't there – both said demigods were probably making out at the bottom of the ocean right now (Annabeth's supposed to distract him whilst they prepare for the party). They wouldn't want a re-count of the most traumatic experience of their lives. For everyone else's sake, Piper hoped this 'preview' wasn't too graphic. If the goddesses showed them what Piper thought they might, Piper shivered thinking back to the hair-raising screams both Annabeth and Percy screamed when they had a nightmare or a flashback. The flash backs usually happened during the day, but they hadn't had one today as far as they knew of, nor did they have one yesterday, so Piper took that as a good sign.

When the 'screen' lit up, they saw the Argo II pulling into Camp Jupiter for the first time _, Annabeth and the rest of the crew walked forward in to the Roman territory. There was a close up of Annabeth's sad face_ , Piper knew Reyna shared the same emotions; they both had to act strong, and not waver their feelings for a moment, but on the inside, they were broken, and still crumbling with every passing second.

Camp half blood whispered about all the families at Camp Jupiter. _They could see babies being held by their parents and grandparents. Piper could tell they wished Camp Half Blood were like that._

 _Reyna appeared, in full Roman armor and a purple cape. Annabeth and Reyna stared at each other._

 _Then the screen moved to see Percy's face, his arms around Frank and Hazel. He was staring directly at the screen,_ but really he was staring at Annabeth, _then Percy broke away, Annabeth started running towards Percy, everyone went to grab his or her weapons that weren't there. Percy and Annabeth reunited, wrapping their arms around each other and they kissed. Percy was wearing his Praetor's uniform, his purple shirt and a white fabric that connected at one shoulder. Percy pulled back and said "Gods I never thought-" That's when Annabeth Judo flipped him and put her knee to his chest, "If you_ ever _leave me again, I swear to all the gods-" As she was crying, Percy laughed, which made Annabeth stop talking._

 _"_ _Consider me warned, I missed you too."_

Some of the camp cooed at that, they smiled at the screen; little did they know what came next.

 _The screen skipped a bunch of things, and went straight to the discussion and the story telling of Jason's point of view and their quest at camp half blood. Then Percy told his story of everything that had happened once he woke up and his quest with Hazel and Frank to defeat the giant Alcyoneus, and freed Thantos – the god of death._

 _"_ _No wonder they made you Praetor" Jason had said._

 _They showed the discussion Annabeth was having with Reyna before all that happened, which nobody there had heard except for Reyna._

 _…_ _._

 _"_ _We've met before, you were younger, I think." Annabeth said_

 _"_ _Very good. Percy didn't seen to remember me. Of course you spoke mostly with my older sister Hylla, who is now queen of the Amazons. She left just this morning, before you arrived, at any rate, when we last met, I was a mere handmaiden in the house of Circe." Reyna said._

 _"_ _You… And Hylla is queen of the Amazons? How did you two-?"_

 _"_ _Long Story" Reyna said "But I remember you well, you were brave. I'd never seen anyone refuse Circe's hospitality, much less outwit it. It's no wonder Percy cares for you" Reyna said._

 _…_ _._

 _"_ _I wanted to hear it from you" Reyna said_

 _"_ _Hear_ what _from me?"_

 _"_ _The truth" Reyna said "Convince me that I'm not making a mistake by trusting you. Tell me about yourself. Tell me about camp half blood…"_

After Annabeth told Reyna bout her life, with the camp listening intently, they learnt what Annabeth had told her about Athena's silver coin gift.

 _Reyna was speaking again "My point is Annabeth, is that it isn't Rome's nature to cooperate with other powers. Every time Greek and Roman demigods have met, we've fought. Conflicts between our two sides have started some of the most horrible wars in human history – especially civil wars."_

"Now we party together!" Yelled Connor Stoll. The camp laughed at this statement.

 _"_ _It doesn't have to be that way" Annabeth said, "we've got to work together, or Gaea will destroy us both."_

 _"_ _I agree" Reyna said, "But is cooperation possible? What if Juno's plan is flawed? Even goddesses can make mistakes"_

Hera scoffed at that statement.

 _"_ _I don't trust the goddess," Annabeth said, "But I do trust my friends. This isn't a trick, Reyna. We_ can _work together."_

 _Reyna spoke, "I believe you mean it, but if you go to the ancient lands, especially Rome itself, there is something you should know about your mother."_

 _Annabeth visibly tensed "My-my mother?"_

Reyna told Annabeth about a supposed son of Athena who came upon the island of Circe; he said he was following the mark of Athena. But Circe turned him into a guinea pig; he claimed he failed his quest of finding the Mark of Athena in Rome.

 _"_ _At the time I had no idea what he meant" Reyna said, "When I became Praetor of Camp Jupiter, I began to suspect."_

 _"_ _Suspect what" Annabeth said_

 _"_ _There is an old legend that the praetors of Camp Jupiter have passed down through the centuries. If it's true, it might explain why our two groups of demigods have never been able to work together. It may be the cause of our animosity. Until this old score is settles, so the legend goes, Romans and Greeks will never be at peace. And the Legend centres around Athena -" Reyna explained._

Then there was the explosion of bombing.

 _"_ _It isn't the giants." Reyna said angrily, "You've betrayed our trust."_

 _"_ _What? No!" Annabeth yelled._

 _Reyna could tell Annabeth told the truth because of her two metal dogs detecting truth in her words._

 _Then the next scenes happened in a rush, as Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, went on the Argo II. Frank became a dragon and Hazel was on her horse – Arion._

 _"_ _Leo! What are you doing!"? Annabeth said_

 _"_ _Destroying them…" When Leo turned around his eyes was glazed. He moved like a robot. "Destroy them all"._

 _Then Percy tackled him down and he told Annabeth to get the ship out of there_.

Many people were very confused at Leo's actions in the hologram, but a lot were also mourning their beloved demigod friend.

The next hour was spent watching different moments from different perspectives of the seven's quest. The camp laughed at the first time Annabeth had told Percy she loved him…


	3. Scary Spiders

The next hour was spent watching different moments from different perspectives of the seven's quest. The camp laughed at the first time Annabeth had told Percy she loved him…

 _The Romans had found them just before the had reached the Ancient land, Octavian said,_ "Surrender to Rome"

 _"_ _Fat chance Octavian" Hazel said_

 _Annabeth's brain clearly thinking, then she used two fingers to take her dagger out and chuck it into the water._

 _Octavian bellowed, "What was that for? I didn't say_ toss _it! That could've been evidence. Or spoils of war!"_

 _Then Annabeth acted like a stereotypical_ dumb blonde _and smiled like 'oh silly me'_

Of course everyone at camp knew she had a plan, unlike Octavian who bought the silly act _._

 _"_ _You other two…" Octavian pointed at Hazel and Piper. "Put your weapons on the dock. No funny bus-" The harbor erupted like a fountain, a wall of seawater crashed on the Romans, then subsided with the Romans trying to stay afloat in the water._

 _Percy stood on the dock, holding Annabeth's dagger._

 _"_ _You dropped this," he said, poker-faced._

 _Annabeth threw her arms around him "I love you!"_

The whole camp laughed at this.

Then they got to the part where no one here had seen, when Annabeth left Percy to follow the Mark of Athena. Piper was eager, yet slightly afraid to see what actually went on during Annabeth's solo quest. I mean, not one child of Athena had ever completed the mark until Annabeth, so it must have been difficult. The Athena cabin was all extra attentive at this point.

 _The screen showed Percy and Annabeth getting lost though the City of Rome, holding hands while doing so._

 _They were drinking coke at the (_ real) _Tiber River. Then they had some lunch, still holding hands across the table._

 _"_ _Percy," Annabeth started, "you can't carry the weight of this whole quest. It's impossible. That's why there are seven of us. And you'll have to let me search for the Athena Parthenos on my own."_

Piper felt sympathetic towards the couple, they had just reunited after so long and now they were being forced to split up again.

 _"_ _I missed you" Percy sounded so sad, " For months, a huge chunk of our lives was taken away. If I lost you again - "_

 _"_ _You'll have to trust me," Annabeth said. "You've got to believe I'll come back._

 _"_ _I believe in_ you _. That's not the problem. But come back from_ Where? _" Percy said._

 _Then Tiberinus – God of the River Tiber – showed up on a Vespa with a 1950's movie star duplicate, to escort Annabeth to the entrance of The Mark of Athena._

 _Annabeth kissed Percy, you can tell she was trying to be strong, for his sake, and she drove off._

The next 20 minutes flashed with bits of Annabeth's quest. Her encounter with Aracne made the Athena campers shiver whilst watching, some couldn't even look at the virtual version of the beast, let alone thinking of actually being Annabeth with the large spider peering over her shoulder. But overall, the Athena campers, and the whole camp was so impressed by how she defeated Aracne using trickery – getting her to weave her own Chinese handcuffs and getting stuck in them, it was brilliant for anyone to do, let alone a 17 year old girl, with nothing but a broken leg, a laptop and no weapons.

Everyone was so relieved when the Argo II came to the rescue… or so they thought… this, they weren't expecting, and it was a shock too for Piper and Jason since they had been flown out of the situation and didn't actually see the fall…

A part of Piper was cringing at seeing her self and hearing herself talk, but she pushed the thought aside.

 _"_ _Annabeth!" Percy called_

 _"_ _Here" Annabeth replied weakly after just landing horribly on her broken ankle._

 _She saw Percy on the rails of the Argo II, which was descending._

 _When Percy got to her, She broke down in tears as he spoke soothing things to her._

 _"_ _You're leg" Piper said "oh Annabeth, what_ happened _?"_

Annabeth explained to them what had happened during her quest.

 _Percy grinned, "You made Arachne weave her own web? I knew you were good, but holy Hera- Annabeth, you did it. Generations of Athena kids tried and failed. You found the Athena Parthenos!"_

At this the Athena cabin Cheered, and Piper smiled, but only for a moment, soon remembering what comes next.

 _"_ _The giants' bane stands gold and pale," Hazel quoted, "Won with pain from a woven jail. It was Arachne's jail. You tricked her into weaving it." Hazel looked at Annabeth with admiration._

Piper saw Hazel across the grass lawn with that same look, holding on to Frank's hand.

 _Leo started working on securing the large statue to the Argo II, Jason flew Piper up to the ship, the floor wasn't going to hold much longer, since all the webbing that used to hold it in place had been used for the jail. Also, Annabeth was covered in webs, which also made the Athena kids squirm._

 _Annabeth gasped in pain and stumbled._

 _Percy asked, "What is it?"_

Many faces in the crowd of demigods were coming to a realisation now. They knew what was happening soon, they knew what that pull of her leg meant.

 _Annabeth tried moving forwards but kept being pulled backwards, towards the dark chasm. Annabeth then fell to the ground, Hazel yelled that it was her ankle,_ realisation took upon the entire camp's face now _– there was a web hooked around Annabeth's ankle, pulling her down._

 _Something yanked on Annabeth's leg, pulling her down into the chasm._ The camp was silent, tensed and some were even tearing up.

 _As Annabeth got pulled down, Percy lunged to grab her arm, but the momentum carried him along as well._

 _"_ _Help them" Hazel yelled_

 _Apart from Nico and Hazel who were trying to peer over the ledge, everyone was focused on securing the Athena Parthenos. The cavern rumbled._

 _Annabeth cried out in such pain as she hit the edge of the pit. Her legs were over the side. She was tangled in the spider's silk._

 _"_ _NO" Percy muttered, light dawning in his eyes, "my sword…"_

He couldn't reach riptide without letting go of Annabeth, the camp could tell this too _._

 _Annabeth visibly weakened, and she slipped over the edge, Percy fell with her._

 _Percy and Annabeth had fallen partway into the pit; they were dangling over the void. The only thing keeping them from falling was Percy, who had grabbed on to a small ledge about 15 feet below the top of the chasm. He held on with one hand, whilst holding Annabeth's limp body with the other hand._

Many gasps and cries escaped from the campers. Jason squeezed Piper's hand as she was crying more openly now.

 _"_ _No escape" said a voice in the darkness below, "if I go to Tartarus, you will come too."_

 _Nico leaned over the edge of the chasm, but he couldn't reach them, he was much too far away to help. Hazel yelled for the others but no one could have gotten there in time if they did hear her._

 _Annabeth's face was made up of pure pain._ Piper had never broken her leg before, but she could try to imagine it, the pain, on top of extreme weight being pulled on it.

 _"_ _Percy, let me go." Annabeth croaked, "You can't pull me up."_

The campers yelled out 'No' or 'Don't Percy' or 'Percy wouldn't let go', even though the Percy and Annabeth in the screen couldn't hear what they were shouting.

 _Piper could tell from looking into Percy's eyes that he knew they were helpless._

 _"_ _Never" Percy said._ He said it so determined and so sure of himself. Piper saw now why Aphrodite was here, she was crying as well, but she brought the camp these clips to them what true love really is. They may only be 17, but piper thought Percy and Annabeth could get married within the hour, Piper knew that Percy and Annabeth would be even greater than any love story ever.

 _Percy looked up at Nico peering over the edge above. "The other side, Nico! We'll see you there. Understand?"_

 _Nico's face looked shocked, "But -"_

 _"_ _Lead them there!" Percy shouted. "Promise me!"_

 _"_ _I-I will" Nico said_

 _Percy's hand looked like it tightened its grip with Annabeth's. His face was scraped, bloodied and gaunt. He was covered in cobwebs. Percy and Annabeth locked eyes with each other._

 _"_ _We're staying together," Percy promised. "You're not getting away from me. Never again."_

 _"_ _As long as we're together," Annabeth replied._

 _Then Percy let go of the ledge, and they fell into the pits of Tartarus holding hands, as they were soon undetectable from above, as you could see nothing by darkness._

 ** _Hey everyone, even though this_** ** _isn't_** **** ** _my best writing and I know it, I still want to post more. Should I keep going or stop? let me know. Also if I continue, should I do their reaction to Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus?_**

 ** _Thanks to you all for reading this, and please REVIEW! I would like to know what sorts of stories you want me to write!_**


	4. Extra Large trident

**Piper**

Piper looked down at her newly fashioned watch to see it was 11:45am.

The screen they were watching on had two parts. The first part showing a dark Percy and Annabeth still falling, that took up most of the screen. In the top right hand corner, a little box showed what the crew of the Argo II above ground was doing at the time.

Piper hadn't realised before how far down Tartarus must be, and how far the fall was, falling for such a long time. It had been 5 minutes and they we're still falling. The video must have skipped a lot of time, because Annabeth had told her that they definitely fell for more than a few hours. _That must have been hard_ Piper thought, _what if they had to go to the bathroom?_

 _Piper heard Annabeth whisper, "I love you" a she clung to Percy's body tighter._

They all watched as Annabeth got Percy to soften their landing, since they laded in water.

 _You could tell they were cold. The impact didn't kill them, but from the shaky footage being shown, it sure looked like a cold mass of water._

 _Even though no one spoke, Piper could hear the voices of the lake, the ones that Percy and Annabeth must have been hearing at the time – 'What's the point of struggling? You're dead anyway. You'll never leave this place.'_

Piper almost choked with sadness. _How could they have survived down there for almost two weeks?_ **(A/N: I'm not 100% sure how long they were actually in Tartarus, so I just guessed…)**

 _Percy and Annabeth broke the surface of the murky water. The air was visually displeasing… red, dark, and thick._

Gods knows what it would have been like to breathe it in. Piper snuggles in to Jason's chest as they both watched quietly.

 _"_ _Land" Annabeth gasped, "Go sideways"._

 _Percy looked so exhausted,_ Piper knew that water usually would have revived him, but chances are, things run a little bit differently in Tartarus.

 _The voices went at it again – 'Life is despair, everything is pointless, and then you die.'_

 _Piper then heard Percy mutter "Pointless", as if the messages were starting to sink in to him, his teeth chattered from the cold, he stopped swimming and started sinking, and by the looks of it, Annabeth was doing everything she could to keep them both afloat._

 _"_ _Percy! The river is messing with your mind. It's the Cocytus – the river of Lamentation. It's made of pure misery!" Annabeth struggled._

The camp was on edge, obviously they knew Percy and Annabeth were safe now, but even knowing that, people started shouting things, "C'mon guys" and "oh gods, why did this have to happen to them".

 _"_ _Misery" Percy mumbled_

 _"_ _Fight it!" Annabeth said._

 _Then Annabeth held Percy closer and kissed him. "Tell me about new Rome, what were your plans for us?"_

 _"_ _New Rome… for us…" Percy seemed to be coming back to his senses._

 _"_ _Yes, Seaweed brain. You said we could have a future there! Tell me!"_

 _Percy started telling Annabeth about New Rome, and they talked about college for a brief moment before Annabeth let out a laugh, which seemed to put a ripple in the water._

 _Once they reached the riverbank, their arms were covered with angry red rashes and blisters, probably from the air, and they finally got to the shore. Piper almost felt relieved, but then she noticed the bank wasn't your everyday ordinary sand, it was made up of sharp, jagged glass chips. Percy and Annabeth's hands were covered in blood. Then they kept choking on the acidic air._

 _Their T-shirts were ripped to shreds, they had no supplies what so ever, and Annabeth didn't even have a weapon. Both their lips were blue from the freezing temperatures of the river, which was ironic since they were in the deepest parts of the underworld._

Then the screen went black. Nothing was said for a good 45 seconds while everybody processed what they had seen. Piper was leaning against Jason, crying a little, she noticed many others were, and had been during the whole thing, too.

Aphrodite breathed out loudly, which was then followed by a "Well, I wasn't expecting that." **(Cue singing and guitar :P)**

Piper kept thinking about the ever so tiny fraction of an experience of Tartarus; with what she had been shown, she was already shivering, and she knew that wasn't the worst part of it, as Annabeth had described in full detail of their encounter with – Akhlys, the daughter of Chaos, and how Percy had almost killed her, using his water powers to control her poison. Annabeth had described Percy's face as one of her worst nightmares. Piper could never even imagine Percy like that.

"Apparently, that's as much of Tartarus as us gods can power up… not that I would have wanted to see any more… gods that was horrible as it was. I was planning on stopping it right there." Aphrodite said, fanning her glowing face.

The last clip that was shown on the screen was when Percy, Annabeth and Piper were walking in the sewage underground in Athens, Piper was singing, the camp looked at her for a moment, they didn't realise she was such a good singer. _They got to the dark room with engravings and puncture marks on the cold ground – from when Poseidon had struck his trident in the ground to make the salt-water spring in his contest with Athena to sponsor Athens._

 _Percy states humorously, "He must have been using his extra large trident." Which made some people laugh. Annabeth and Percy stood up together,_

 _"_ _So this is where the rivalry started?" Percy asked._

 _Annabeth breathed "yeah."_

 _Percy then took Annabeth by the waist and kissed her long a passionately._

 _When he pulled back, he said, "This is where the rivalry ends, I love you Wise Girl."_

Several girls including the Aphrodite cabin cooed.

Then the screen disappeared, and the goddesses told the Greeks and the few romans that they had to leave immediately.

Piper was still pretty shaken and dazed by the images she had just seen, all she wanted to do was give Annabeth a hug, Percy too.

But, everyone managed to get up and finished the rest of the decorating before doing whatever they wanted. By then it was 12:35pm, and Piper was waiting anxiously with Jason to await the arrival of Percy, the birthday boy.

No sooner than 3 minutes, did they see a certain black-hared boy with sea green eyes, and a long blonde, with stormy grey eyes, strolling in the circle of cabins hand in hand. They entered the Poseidon cabin and closed the door behind them. Piper felt a little bit more at ease, because she saw them smiling, as they walked side by side, not anything like the faces they were expressing down in Tartarus.

 **Hey hey, hope you liked that! please review, give me any suggestions or comments please, I love reading them! I will probably upload another chapter very soon - but this story might be coming to a close, please go read and review my other story called "After Giant War", which is more Percabeth! So either way, see you soon! :)**


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